


Small Vacations

by BadLuckBlueEyes



Series: Snapshots 'Verse [4]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Birthdays, Gen, Jack is a good dad, Matt is 9, New Haven, Other, Pizza, Pre-Canon, day-cation, he's trying okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 15:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4569237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadLuckBlueEyes/pseuds/BadLuckBlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part four of Snapshots. In which Jack takes Matt on a daycation as a treat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Vacations

Jack hustled Matt onto the train, making sure they could find good seats before the compartment filled up. They found two seats next to each other and sat down, stretching out and getting comfortable. Vacations weren’t something they went on ever. Money was too tight for that. But when Jack had enough he bought train tickets and took Matt to New Haven to explore, getting them both out of Hell’s Kitchen for the day. It had become almost a yearly tradition, falling near Matt’s birthday. Jack usually let him pick something small out as a present. 

The plan for the day was to wander around the Yale area, see what they could find as far as food went, and probably end up with pizza. Matt had just turned nine and was due for a day trip too, so he would get something nice. A book, Jack guessed. 

“Where are we going?” Matt asked, and Jack filled him in, saying everything he had been thinking only a moment before. Matt nodded and looked out the window. 

“Can I pick out a book?” Jack laughed a little and nodded, trying to take a picture of Matt, who frowned at the camera. 

“Dad, I’m nine now, can’t you stop with the photos?” he asked, looking out the window again and swinging his feet. 

“Come on Matty, how else am I supposed to remember these moments?” he asked, bringing up what was quickly becoming a tired, old argument. 

“I don’t know, but you just can without taking all the stupid pictures.” 

“Come on, just let me have this one thing.” Jack said, indicating that it was final for now. They both knew that he was being sentimental, and that Matt was growing impatient with him as he got older. Matt was soon going to find a compelling argument to stop the photos and Jack would probably agree. Probably. He was still a fighter yet. 

The train ride flew by as Matt told Jack about all the things he had been learning in school. Jack stopped him to question whether his homework for the weekend was done, and Matt had rolled his eyes and nodded. His grades were perfect, something else the both of them were well aware of. Jack’s constant badgering about the importance of grades and doing better than he ever did was paying off, it seemed. 

As they walked out of the station in New Haven they stopped to look around. They both knew their way around pretty well from years of visiting, but they always paused for a moment. Jack held out his hand automatically, waiting for Matt to take it. Matt looked at the extended hand and shook his head. 

“I’m definitely too old for that.” he said, and Jack lowered his hand, letting it go. He couldn’t stop his son from growing up, and Matt was probably right on that one. Jack shrugged, starting to walk forward. 

“You coming?” Matt nodded and immediately followed, staying close to Jack’s side. If the man smiled a little at the closeness, he didn’t let Matt see it. “Alright Matty, where first?” 

They wandered around, going into whatever shops Matt wanted to look in. They ended up downtown, walking around the Yale buildings. Jack made Matt pose in front of one of the buildings and took a photo, ignoring Matt’s protests. 

“What if you’re here someday?” he asked, lowering the camera after taking the picture. “Wouldn’t it be great if I had a photo of you standing here at age nine and then at eighteen?” Matt sighed through his nose and rolled his eyes, mumbling something under his breath as he walked towards his dad. 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that, what did you say?” he asked, holding a hand to his ear for emphasis as he grinned. 

“I said it would be cool.” Matt grumbled, clearly not happy with the fact that he had to repeat himself. Jack nodded. 

“Give your old man some credit, I can be cool sometimes.” Matt snorted. 

“Sure.” 

Jack laughed in response and they kept going, walking towards the pizza restaurants. Lines snaked out the doors at most of them and Jack let Matt lead the way. Matt got in the shortest line and they waited until they could get a seat. They looked at the menu for a moment ordering a small cheese to split between them. When the pizza arrived and Matt lifted a slice to take a bite, he stopped with the piece halfway to his mouth, glaring as Jack picked up the camera. 

“No.” 

“Come on, humor your old man.” 

“Dad, I said no.” his voice took on a slight whining tone. 

“No whining, I get one every year.” Jack lowered his eyebrows a little and took a photo of Matt taking a bite of his pizza. 

“Don’t do one next year.” Matt grumbled as he finished his slice. 

“What, you won’t let me get an even ten?” 

“When were you going to stop?” Matt raised his eyebrows. Jack shrugged. 

“Haven’t thought about it… When you go to college, maybe?” 

“When I go to _college_?” 

“That’s what I figured.” Jack shrugged and Matt’s wide eyes. “Take pictures of your whole childhood and keep them for myself. Maybe embarrass you a little if you bring a girl home, get out the photos of you choking on cake when you were two.” Matt covered his face with his hands. 

“You’re the worst.” 

“I’m the best and you know it.” Matt shrugged and went back to his pizza, mumbling something about him being better if he'd put the camera down. 

“It sounds bad now, but someday you’re going to look back and thank me for taking all these pictures, kid.” Matt raised one eyebrow. 

“That does sound bad.” 

“Shut up and eat your pizza, alright?” 

They finished their meal and Matt made a beeline for the used bookstore from there. Jack stood around and watched Matt wander through the shelves until he found something he liked. 

“Who’s Thurgood Marshall?” 

“I have no idea. He may have been a lawyer. You want that?” Matt hesitated, looking at the biography in his hands, turning it over before nodding. 

“Alright, let’s go.” Jack paid for the book and they headed back for the train station, getting on the train and waiting to leave. Jack fiddled with the camera while Matt crossed his legs, setting the open book in his lap as he hovered over it. 

“It good?” Jack asked after sneaking a picture. 

“Something about dissenting from evil.” he replied, looking up at the camera shutter going off. “Really?” he glared at the camera. 

“Matt, I promise you, someday when you have a wife or whatever and maybe even kids, you might want to look at these. Then you will be so glad that I took so many pictures of you. You’ll pull the albums out and look through them and remember everything we did. It’ll be worth it.” Jack promised. 

“Where are the photos I took of you boxing?” Matt replied. 

“See? Worth it already.” Jack smiled. “They’re at home, you can label them later.” Matt nodded, satisfied, and went back to reading. 

“Careful you don’t read when it’s getting dark, that’s bad for your eyes.” Jack warned, glancing at the setting sun. Matt made a small noise, acknowledging that he heard him, not looking up from his book. 

They got back a little while later, walking to the apartment. Matt headed for his room, the biography tucked under his arm, already a fourth of the way through. _The kid read faster than anyone he had ever met_ , Jack thought with a small, proud smile. 

All in all, he figured as he got ready for bed that night, it was a pretty good birthday trip.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to J for the beta read, hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
